As stated, the present easel was developed for suspending a flat display item, such as a card, in an upstanding position.
In developing the easel, the following attributes were sought:
that it should be flat in the knocked down state, for shipping; PA1 that it should suspend the display item above the support surface, so that the support surface will not be scratched by the displayed item; PA1 that the easel should be adjustable, so that the angularity of the display item can be varied; PA1 that the easel should have good footing and a good grip on the display item, so that the assembly is not easily overturned. PA1 it includes a generally diamond-shaped, flat easel member formed of resilient, stiff but still flexible, non-scratching material, the opposed side edges of the member being parallel; PA1 the easel member preferably has a line of weakness extending transversely thereacross between its oblique angle points, whereby the member may be easily bent along the line to form a generally pyramidal structure having open front and bottom sides, one pair of parallel side edges forming the base edges of the structure, the other pair forming rearwardly inclined, load-supporting front edges; PA1 each load-supporting edge forms a forwardly protruding hook-like member (hereafter also referred to as "hook") defining an upwardly opening slot. The hook is spaced above but close to the adjacent bottom edge of the easel member. PA1 The hooks function to prevent the supported upright display item from sliding downwardly and forwardly; PA1 The load is rearwardly inclined by resting against the front edges of the pyramidal member and its weight is transferred onto the strut formed along the bend line of the member; PA1 Tension is developed in the side walls of the easel member as the load is transmitted down through the strut of the easel member and the hooks, integral with the side walls, engage the base of the load item--this tension enables a structure constructed from a relatively flimsy flat sheet to support a relatively heavy load with surprising rigidity; and PA1 The tension created and the flexible nature of the material used enable frictional engagement to be used as the means for fixing the relative positioning of the easel sidewalls.
The following relevant prior art patents were noted in the prosecution of the parent of this application:
Wight in U.K. patent 113,330 teaches an easel which is flat in the knocked down state. The easel has triangular segments and is adapted to be bent along scored lines to form a pyramidal structure. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the structure may have steps or projections extending forwardly at the base of its front edges, upon which the display card may rest.
Bird in U.S. Pat. No. 777,658 teaches a metal strip forming upwardly projecting hooks at each of its ends. The strip is bent into semi-circular form and a small display card may be inserted into the slots created by the hooks.